Happily, Parade has an exclusive conversation with Gabaldon about the sixth episode (out of eight) in Season 7 Part 2, starting with how much fun it was to write as it has so much development with major characters Jamie (Sam Heughan), Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Lord John (David Berry), and so much is taken from her book.
“They did change quite a bit from the first draft, but largely to change emphasis (less time devoted to William [Charles Vandervaart] and Jane [Silvia Presente], more to Hal [Ben Lambert] and John, cut down a lot of the Bree [Sophie Skelton]/Rob Cameron [Chris Fulton] stuff (which I didn't object to), rather than plot.
“Some lines were changed—when Claire (book) sees Jamie in his new uniform and he asks whether he looks decent to inspect troops, she replies, ‘You look like bloody Mars, god of war. You're likely to frighten your men.’ To which he replies, ‘I want them frightened of me. It's my best chance of getting them out of this alive.’ That was (I believe) changed to JAMIE: ‘Do ye like it? CLAIRE: ‘I'd be lying if I said I didn't.’
Sam Heughan, David Berry, Caitríona BalfeCourtesy: STARZ
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“Well, again, this is the show condensing and abbreviating what is (in the book and the original script) a more complex conversation,” Gabaldon comments. “They need to fix the situation (at least temporarily) and get on to the next major bit. Speaking generally, though, Lord John feels (very justifiably) affronted by Jamie's beating him to a pulp. Jamie may be superficially regretful, but the bloody Highlander and possessive male is bubbling along just below the surface, and he's too honest to tell social lies. Claire knows both men much too well at this point to expect that things will immediately go back to normal, much as she'd like them to. At the moment, she'll accept anything that lets them have a conversation.”
There’s a great line where Washington says, "This dinner won't make the history books," but it does make Gabaldon’s novel. We asked her how it feels to put words in the mouths of these historic characters.
“Well, Washington's line isn't something either Washington or I would actually have said (for assorted reasons; Washington and his generals were a whole lot more concerned about survival than with how they'd look 200 years hence, and by and large, you really shouldn't pull the reader/viewer out of the moment), but it's mildly funny. I liked Lafayette a lot . Book, show and real life (or as much approaching reality as historical sources allow).
Caitríona Balfe, Sam HeughanCourtesy: STARZ
“(Hence, Benedict Arnold's conversation with Claire, which was his style: graceful, charming, and philosophical—and his yelling, "Shoot him!' at his soldiers (with regard to General Fraser), which was a direct, if not strictly literal, quote .)
“The show writers don't have the time or resources to do that; their dialogue has to be very condensed. Generally, they do a good job, and occasionally they'll do something that makes sense in their context but is way off historically (either in terms of fact, or using a too-modern figure of speech, or something that (I know) a particular character Just Wouldn't Say (for reason X, Y and Z).) When this happens, I tell them about it, and about half the time they fix it.
New episodes of the second half of Outlander Season 7 will premiere at midnight ET on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms each Friday. On linear broadcast, it will debut on STARZ Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET in the U.S.
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